The Gold Rush is leaving wounds that never heal

Editor’s Note: On November 14, 2014, Swedish newspaper, DN.se, published a report on gold mining in Guyana. It mentioned comments made by Head of GO-Invest, Keith Burrowes, among others. The Google-translated report, except for a few corrections to make it flow, is below published.

“We have sold out our independence. And what do we get back? Nothing,” says Keith Burrowes, Head of Guyana Office For Investment (GO-Invest) in the capital, Georgetown.

Port Kaituma: Guyana has one of the world’s largest gold deposits. It is, nevertheless, the

Travis McCarthy stands by his diesel engine.

poorest country in South America. The revenue from the gold disappears abroad and leaves a lacerated rainforest.
DN (the newspaper) traveled to Port Kaituma.
Travis McCarthy stands up to his waist in mud and water sprays a jet of steam on the walls of the pit. The clay settles and dissolved. A tube then sucks up the muddy water in a pipe leading to a homemade panning plant operated by a diesel engine. As the water rushes through the gutter, it is intended that the gold particles be trapped in a wire plastic mat that nailed to the ground.
“It’s not easy, but we have come up with much gold here,” says Travis McCarthy; 28.
He works every day, from early morning to evening, with 14 other prospectors to get the gold out of a pit they dug by hand. They live in makeshift tent camps that they themselves built and ironically dubbed the Purple Heart, after the Medal of Honor awarded in the US to wounded or fallen soldiers.
The food is cooked by a 34-year-old woman who has eight children and was attracted to the gold district to earn money for her children’s education. After two years in the gold camp, she has not yet been able to send home much money.
“The gold is running out here. Last week we had just upwards of 100 grams. It does not get much when everyone should have his part,” says Rhonda Aulder. She stands on a beer crate in the kitchen to reach the big pot where she boils rice with curry.
The camp will make losses if more gold is not found soon. Some of the men roar from the open mine. A stone has been sucked up into the hose and blasted the plastic tube. Muddy gold water spurts from the ground.
Four years ago, McCarthy lived in a tent camp in the middle of the deserted jungle and is always armed. If anyone finds gold, the rumor spreads quickly with the likelihood of robberies. “People kill for a few grams of gold. Life is not worth much here,” he says.
When gold prices soared after the financial crisis in the US in 2008, foreign prospectors invaded Guyana. Geologists estimate that there are up to 3,000 tonnes of gold in the ground, one of the world’s largest gold deposits. Over a third of the miners in Guyana come from Brazil.
“We have sold out our independence. And what do we get back? Nothing,” says Keith Burrowes, Head of Guyana Office For Investment (GO-Invest) in the capital, Georgetown.
He estimates that over half of the revenues from the country’s gold disappears abroad. The reason for this is that the Guyanese government is involved in the gold trade. They serve private money on the extraction and often places the profits of real estate in the US, Canada and Barbados. The only thing that remains for the people are open sores in the rainforest that will never heal.
“We do not even know how many gold miners there are in the country. The government has lost control,” says Keith Burrowes.
Some 80 percent of Guyana is covered by forest- one of the world’s last untouched ones. That the country is sparsely populated allows multiple gold mining happening without the authorities knowing anything about them. In the region around the village of Port Kaituma, near the border with Venezuela, it is the worst. In recent years, gold fever led to the hamlet from having a few hundred inhabitants to have over 3,000. There is no sewage system and groundwater is contaminated.
“There is a risk of cholera outbreak, many are already suffering from severe diarrhea,” says Allan Woolford, the Red Cross Director.
Also, the river water is contaminated due to the miners using mercury when panning gold.
“You may damage your skin if you bathe here,” warns Woolford, pointing towards the river.
He believes that the poisoned water is a result of the government not caring enough about consequences. Guyana has been ruled by the same party since 1992, and corruption is getting worse.
“The government knows that it is hated and will not be re-elected. Therefore, they sell out concessions now. They are trying to make as much money as possible before they resign,” says Woolford.
Along one of the muddy streets of the lawless Port Kaituma, the Brazilians have their own neighborhoods. There are restaurants, bars and brothels painted in Brazilian colors. Overlooking the river is Edna dos Santos’ restaurant, “Brazil”, and below in the village runs her daughter’s brothel, “Eldorado”.
“When the diggers come back after a few months in the jungle, they want to have some fun,” explains Edna dos Santos.
She has been in the gold business for fifteen years and operated other food outlets around the gold mines in Brazil. But after the authorities tightened with environmental licenses, gold mines almost ceased in Brazil. Many have moved on to the neighboring country of Guyana.
Other countries have an interest in the gold boom in Guyana. One of the biggest foreign investments have been made by the Australian mining company Troy Resources Ltd. They are about to open a gold mine in the heart of Guyana’s rainforest that will have 500 employees.
“It is gentler to the environment if they are investing properly in one place. It’s better than all these Brazilian gold miners that just ruins the forest,” said Ken Nilsson, President of Troy Resources in Guyana.
He was born and raised in Södertälje, but has lived in Australia for more than forty years.
“I see great potential in Guyana. The problem is their government. We want to be transparent, but it would not they be,” he says.
It’s Friday afternoon in McCarthy camp and time to loosen the rubber mats in the panning chute to see how much gold was made. The gold is collected in a lump that Travis puts in a sink. Then he burns away the mercury with a propane torch. Behind him stands Devi Felix, 31, who is head of the camp. When she sees how little gold they got together during the week, she cannot hide her disappointment.
“This is of course less than 100 grams. It pays barely diesel that we used for the water,” she sighs. “ (If) We do not find more gold, we must move on,” says Devi Felix.
She has heard of a new gold vein, another day’s journey into the jungle. The problem is that the Brazilians are already there and has claimed the rights to the find.